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FACT CHECK: Florida’s Recovery Has Happened in Spite of Rick Scott’s Policies, Not Because of Them

Posted October 21, 2014

CLAIM: Rick Scott continues to say Florida has created hundreds of thousands of jobs because of his administration.

FACT: Florida’s recovery has happened in spite of Rick Scott, not because of him — and it started under Charlie Crist. Yet while our national economic picture has improved, most of the gains in Rick Scott’s Florida have gone to those at the top. That’s why hundreds of thousands of Floridians still can’t find work, and hundreds of thousands more are underemployed. As the Sun-Sentinel noted, “Florida has recovered along with the nation, though the state's 6.3 percent unemployment rate is now higher than the national average of 5.9 percent.”

PolitiFact reported that “economists say Crist gets some credit for accepting federal stimulus dollars, which saved thousands of jobs, in 2009,” which created or maintained at least 160,000 jobs, including 20,000 teachers jobs. Too many Floridians are feeling left out in Rick Scott’s low-wage economy, while utility bills and insurance costs skyrocket.